Rouhani’s Visit to the UN
Narges Bajoghli, an anthropology PhD student at NYU, writes in The Guardian about Iranian winds of change: Students, activists, artists, and political prisoners rallied behind Rouhani just before the 13 June vote to bring him a 51% victory, hoping to bring about change and some breathing room in Iran again. Ahmadinejad’s presidency was characterized by […]
Gender
The structuralism of Claude Lévi-Strauss and the critique of Feminist Anthropology are discussed in an Iranian.com piece on gender. The problem with structuralism is that it discards the concepts of freedom and choice, merely emphasizing the way different social structures shape an individual’s experience, outlook and behaviour. As for the works of Lévi-Strauss, feminist anthropologists […]
The Universality of Homosexuality
Reflecting upon Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s assertion that there are no homosexuals in Iran, this Slate Magazine article discusses recent anthropological research conducted by Barry and Bonnie Hewlett and considers if homosexuality exists in every human society At a press event two weeks ago, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to elaborate on […]
Anthropological Antiquity
The appropriation of anthropology for political, economic or religious means is far from being a new phenomena. What is interesting in this case is the construction of an Islamic myth of anthropological antiquity which is framed in opposition to the contemporariness of Anthropology as a Western form of knowledge. The Iran Book News Agency announced the publication […]